(Not Applicable)
(Not Applicable)
The present invention relates to automated parking gates and, more particularly, to automated gates having its resilient lighting elements arrayed thereon.
Automated parking gates are a familiar feature throughout the American landscape. They function to allow selective access and exiting from parking areas, enhancing safety and convenience for intended users. Automated parking gates commonly operate under electronic control such that the need for operating personnel may be mitigated, or eliminated altogether.
As the development of automatic parking gates has matured, control functions and operational modes have become more sophisticated. Switch selectable features have also been implemented to offset timing and otherwise modify the operation of the gate in response to the sensed position of the vehicle, the direction the vehicle travels, etc.
While these and other improvements have been made to control functions of parking gates, basic mechanical features have remained substantially unchanged since the inception of the automated parking gate. The gate arm or boom is commonly implemented as a rigid member extending approximately ten feet from the housing. The arm may typically be formed of wood or other light-weight material that is sufficiently stiff to maintain its shape while being secured only at one end, adjacent the housing. As a consequence, the use of such arms are of course subject to cracking or breaking when the arm strikes some portion of a vehicle passing through the gate.
In order to mitigate prospects for harm to the gate, and enhance safety more generally, gate arms are commonly painted in a bright color or contrasting colors to enhance visual recognition of the gate. However, while such practices serve to enhance safe operation of the gate, additional steps are useful to distinguish the gate, to further mitigate to the potential for injury or damage resulting from impacting the gate.
One contemporary approach to enhancing the visibility of the gate is to use a light transmissive tube as the gate arm. As light is transmitted through the tube, the tube is illuminated and becomes more visible to the driver. However, for such tubes to function as a gate arm, they must have stiffness qualities as described in connection with wooden arms. As such, light transmissive tubes are similarly breakable, requiring replacement of the entire tube when accidents occur. Moreover, given to the stiffness of the tube, impact of the tube upon the hood of a car or the like may commonly cause scratching or denting of the car hood. This may not only be aggravating to the operator of the vehicle, but creates potential liabilities for the operator of the parking gate.
Accordingly, there exists a need to devise an automated parking gate having enhanced safety features for deterring the prospect of an accident, and providing greater protectibility against damage in the event that the gate arm strikes a vehicle. There further exists a need to provide such an improved automated parking gate having resilient lighting elements which define the lower surface of the gate arm, while providing protection against injury should the gate arm be lowered upon the surface of a vehicle. Further, a need exists for an improved parking gate having a means to install and replace lighting elements disposed on the gate arm or housing, without removing the gate arm from the housing, or otherwise require disassembling of the housing. Still further, there exists a need to provide these and other features and advantages in an improved automated parking gate, while retaining the economies of low product cost, low operating cost, and lower prospect of vehicle injury and consequent damage claims. These and other objects and advantages are implemented by means of the present invention as set forth below in connection with the illustrated drawings.
An automated parking gate structure is disclosed having enhanced safety features for deterring accidents and providing greater protectibility against damage in the event the gate arm strikes a vehicle. The parking gate comprises a base cabinet, a control mechanism disposed within the cabinet, and a gate arm connected to the cabinet, adapted for motion relative thereto in response to operation of the control mechanism. A first light element is disposed along a first surface of the gate arm. The light element being in communication with the control mechanism to regulate operation of the light element in response to operational modes of the gate control mechanism.
In the presently preferred embodiment, the first light element is disposed along the lower surface of the gate arm, and formed of flexible plastic material that is resiliently deformable upon impact of the material onto a vehicle surface.
The first light element may be formed as a length of fiber optic material, illuminated by a light source disposed within the cabinet. Alternatively, the first light element may be formed as a string of electrically interconnected lights, encased within flexible plastic tubing, the tubing being deformable upon impact of the material onto a vehicle surface.
The first light element is preferably manually engageable/disengageable from the gate arm without the use of tools. In one embodiment, the gate arm is grooved and the first light element is formed to include a flange, adapted for cooperative engagement to the gate arm groove. In another embodiment, the gate arm is formed to include at least one support member, adapted to receive and support the first light element adjacent the gate arm.
In one embodiment, the cabinet is provided with a junction box to facilitate plug engagement/disengagement of the first light element to the light source and gate arm without disassembly of the cabinet, or disengagement of the gate arm from the cabinet.
A second light element is provided upon an upper surface of the cabinet, and a hood is disposable thereover. The hood is preferably formed of translucent material such that it is illuminated in response to activation of the second light element. As with the first light element, the second light element may be implemented in various embodiments, including an incandescent lamp, or a length of fiber optic material. The first and second light elements may also be illuminated by a common light source, disposed within the cabinet. The parking gate control mechanism may be operative to illuminate either or both of the first and second light elements in response to the operational mode of the gate control mechanism. Both first and second light elements may be illuminated in one or more of a plurality of light patterns, responsive to the operational mode of the gate control mechanism.